All posts tagged politics

Here’s the best way to think about the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It’s the world’s highest-end trade show.

If you have ever been to a trade show, you know how exhausting, productive and bewildering it all can be. There is a blur of meetings, bad food, and endless cocktail parties. But real work–and real connections–can be forged there. And so it is in Davos, where the trade show is at the highest level: These are governments looking for deals, companies looking for deals, billionaires looking for deals, and charities looking for deals. If you are envisioning some high-end salon, readjust, and picture the Consumer Electronics Show without the blinking lights and a lot more snow. Read More »

Making mayonnaise can be a messy affair but with the right ingredients, it can taste pretty good. The way General Electric has managed to cook up its energy-equipment deal with Alstom, the struggling French engineering group, is a case in point. Nearly everybody at the table is smiling after a frenzy of complex negotiations, even Alstom’s unsuccessful suitor Siemens. Read More »

If Pfizer’s bid for Astra Zeneca really has fallen through, law makers in Sweden won’t be shedding any tears. They have been listing the reasons why the bid would be bad for Sweden for weeks even though the reality is that AstraZeneca isn’t quite as Swedish as sometimes it is is made out to be. Barely 12% of AstraZeneca’s 51,500 staff work in Sweden. Read More »

Indian business leaders hope that Narendra Modi will use the strong mandate he received in the elections to push through policy reforms and reverse years of slow economic growth. They expect Mr. Modi to tackle a number of issues- from taxes to investment regulations – in order to jump-start growth in Asia’s third-largest economy. Read More »

The politically-charged, fast-moving tussle for control of Alstom SA, the flagship French power and transport engineering group, has left investors gasping for breath.

But with Alstom agreeing Wednesday to General Electric’s preliminary €12.35 billion ($17.06 billion) offer for its energy-equipment business without shutting the door on a now sweetened alternative offer of up to €11 billion from Siemens, investors can take stock of the situation. Read More »

Politicians – can’t live with them, can’t live without ‘em. Take German utility RWE, a major victim of Germany’s decision to subsidize renewable energy heavily while turning its back on nuclear power.The Essen-based utility recorded a loss in 2013, its first in more than six decades, after taking heavy write downs on its gas and coal-fired power plants amid a collapse in wholesale electricity prices. Its stock has more than halved in value in the last four years. Read More »

Add Liberty Media Corp. Chairman John Malone to the list of conservative businesspeople who are frustrated with the Tea Party. While he says he generally agrees with their objectives and point of view, “I just generally don’t feel that their tactics are very sophisticated” and complains the group isn’t “being rational.” He is particularly unhappy at the Tea Party’s push to nominate candidates for Congress “that can’t win.”

Mr. Malone is well known for his libertarian views – he has long been on the board of the public policy group the Cato Institute, for instance. But in a telephone interview on Monday where he mused on both politics and business, he made clear his preference for those regarded by many as moderate Republicans, like Maine Senator Susan Collins. As for political donations, he focuses on individuals “I personally like.”

For example, he says he says he is a “big fan” of Arizona Sen. John McCain, noting he had “maxxed out with him because I like the guy.” And he agreed with his view that the strategy should be one that “can win.”

Here’s your shutdown roundup this morning. First, there’s hope – if not for ending the shutdown, at least for not worrying about a debt default until sometime around Thanksgiving.

As we report, conservative Republicans are warming to implementing a short term increase in the debt ceiling to split that really dangerous debate and negotiations over budget cuts from the shutdown/Obamacare dispute. Read More »

In one of the studies, researchers asked 210 participants (61% of them women) about their political ideologies. Then, the researchers told the participants they had $2 to spend on a new light bulb, and talked up the energy-saving advantages of compact fluorescent light bulbs compared to incandescent bulbs. Some of the CFL bulbs had a sticker attached that proclaimed: “Protect the Environment.” Others had a blank sticker, according to a summary of the study.

When the CFL bulb was priced at $1.50, and the incandescent bulb at 50 cents, politically moderate or conservative participants were less likely to buy the CFL when it had the green label. When the CFL bulb had no environmental message, liberals and conservatives chose it at “roughly the same high frequency,” the summary reports.

In the other experiment, 657 adults, 49% of them men, were asked about the value they placed on cutting carbon dioxide emissions to protect the environment, reduce reliance on foreign oil and lower energy costs. They were asked their views on investing in technology to reduce energy use.

The more conservative the person, the less likely they were to say they supported spending money on energy efficiency technology, the researchers found. More in the full post. Read More »